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seekingferretThe Verifiers by Jane Pek
A curiously genre-curious book, sort of halfway between literary fiction and detective novel, with some SFF tinges and some of the feel, style, and structure of a romance novel, or perhaps an anti-romance novel. I found it propulsively readable, believably characterized and full of wonderful details of setting and place, but I also found it a little bit empty in the end, or maybe out of balance with reality is a more descriptive way to put it. Everything was just a little bit too heightened by genre, which was exciting as I was reading but left me struggling to find any greater significance in it.
The premise is that our protagonist works for a private investigating firm that tries to verify if the things people say about themselves on dating apps are true before online relationships go too far. A mysterious client walks in the door, setting off an unsettling investigation that reveals not just a lot about the nature of the suspects, but also about the client, and about the investigators. But anything the book tries to say about the nature of online dating or our susceptibility to algorithms is confounded by the mystery plot, and anything we try to deduce in the mystery plot is confounded by the SFFnal elements, and the whole thing is satisfyingly messy but ultimately doesn't quite get at anything beyond its own storytelling prowess.
Legends & Lattes
Does what it says on the tin. Delightfully low stakes fantasy story in which an orc adventurer retires and starts a coffee shop and builds a little work family around her in the process.oracne linked recently to a mostly accurate review arguing that Legends & Lattes is insubstantial and empty, which I think very much misses the point. The apparent emptiness in Legends & Lattes is because all the intended readers can fill in the gaps on our own- everyone who's ever played D&D has wondered about what happens when the world isn't at war. L&L doesn't demand anything of its readers, it just gives them space to spend a few moments in that world.
The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe
Dumb romance where the protagonist runs a business secretly 'fixing' men by staging phony encounters with actors that nudge the men toward doing what their girlfriends or wives want them to do. I think this would be an interesting story premise in the hands of Zadie Smith or Tom McCarthy, but here it only leads to... our protagonist is hired to 'fix' her high school crush, who she hasn't seen since fleeing a humiliating attempted romantic encounter. They fall in love. The end. The 'fixing' is inherently gross and the author is aware of the grossness and therefore glosses over the details of most scenes involving what is the literal premise of the novel, but she still wants us to find it kind of charming, sort of "But imagine it weren't gross! Wouldn't it be great if you could just call a phone number to make your husband a more attentive father?" The protag's ending is realizing that she has found a guy she doesn't need to fix, but just because it's the story's moral doesn't mean it's the story's moral, you know? I recently got into a silly fight on facebook where a few people kept insisting that the moral of Romeo and Juliet is that feuding only leads to destruction, and I kept saying "Okay, fine but the play still romanticizes the lovers' deaths, right?"
A Clue for the Puzzle Lady by Parnell Hall
Semi-cozy murder mystery in which a crossword constructor is recruited by the police to help with a crime where the killer has been leaving crossword clues behind. The crossword clues are not that good, and one of them is entirely bizarre, but when I posted about it on Crosscord I was told that seven books into the series, the author got crossword legend Manny Nosowsky to start contributing crossword clues so maybe I will skip ahead to that one.
There's a weird double bluff in that the ostensible Puzzle Lady is actually a front for her niece to write the crossword puzzles, but the Puzzle Lady is still the one who solves the crime. It was a kind of reasonable twist for book one, but I'm curious whether the double bluff continued to be a plot thing in the many, many sequels or if it was quickly set to the side.
Currently reading about five other books, I seem to be having a fit of book-reading energy.
A curiously genre-curious book, sort of halfway between literary fiction and detective novel, with some SFF tinges and some of the feel, style, and structure of a romance novel, or perhaps an anti-romance novel. I found it propulsively readable, believably characterized and full of wonderful details of setting and place, but I also found it a little bit empty in the end, or maybe out of balance with reality is a more descriptive way to put it. Everything was just a little bit too heightened by genre, which was exciting as I was reading but left me struggling to find any greater significance in it.
The premise is that our protagonist works for a private investigating firm that tries to verify if the things people say about themselves on dating apps are true before online relationships go too far. A mysterious client walks in the door, setting off an unsettling investigation that reveals not just a lot about the nature of the suspects, but also about the client, and about the investigators. But anything the book tries to say about the nature of online dating or our susceptibility to algorithms is confounded by the mystery plot, and anything we try to deduce in the mystery plot is confounded by the SFFnal elements, and the whole thing is satisfyingly messy but ultimately doesn't quite get at anything beyond its own storytelling prowess.
Legends & Lattes
Does what it says on the tin. Delightfully low stakes fantasy story in which an orc adventurer retires and starts a coffee shop and builds a little work family around her in the process.
oracne linked recently to a mostly accurate review arguing that Legends & Lattes is insubstantial and empty, which I think very much misses the point. The apparent emptiness in Legends & Lattes is because all the intended readers can fill in the gaps on our own- everyone who's ever played D&D has wondered about what happens when the world isn't at war. L&L doesn't demand anything of its readers, it just gives them space to spend a few moments in that world.The Fixer Upper by Lauren Forsythe
Dumb romance where the protagonist runs a business secretly 'fixing' men by staging phony encounters with actors that nudge the men toward doing what their girlfriends or wives want them to do. I think this would be an interesting story premise in the hands of Zadie Smith or Tom McCarthy, but here it only leads to... our protagonist is hired to 'fix' her high school crush, who she hasn't seen since fleeing a humiliating attempted romantic encounter. They fall in love. The end. The 'fixing' is inherently gross and the author is aware of the grossness and therefore glosses over the details of most scenes involving what is the literal premise of the novel, but she still wants us to find it kind of charming, sort of "But imagine it weren't gross! Wouldn't it be great if you could just call a phone number to make your husband a more attentive father?" The protag's ending is realizing that she has found a guy she doesn't need to fix, but just because it's the story's moral doesn't mean it's the story's moral, you know? I recently got into a silly fight on facebook where a few people kept insisting that the moral of Romeo and Juliet is that feuding only leads to destruction, and I kept saying "Okay, fine but the play still romanticizes the lovers' deaths, right?"
A Clue for the Puzzle Lady by Parnell Hall
Semi-cozy murder mystery in which a crossword constructor is recruited by the police to help with a crime where the killer has been leaving crossword clues behind. The crossword clues are not that good, and one of them is entirely bizarre, but when I posted about it on Crosscord I was told that seven books into the series, the author got crossword legend Manny Nosowsky to start contributing crossword clues so maybe I will skip ahead to that one.
There's a weird double bluff in that the ostensible Puzzle Lady is actually a front for her niece to write the crossword puzzles, but the Puzzle Lady is still the one who solves the crime. It was a kind of reasonable twist for book one, but I'm curious whether the double bluff continued to be a plot thing in the many, many sequels or if it was quickly set to the side.
Currently reading about five other books, I seem to be having a fit of book-reading energy.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-03-20 12:52 pm (UTC)I have definitely had this sort of reading experience--it works while you're reading it, but leaves you empty at the end. Like eating cotton candy or something. (I don't like cotton candy, but that's the comparison that comes to mind.)
The Fixer Upper description makes me say YIKES.
(no subject)
Date: 2023-03-20 05:57 pm (UTC)